STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



41 



SOIL MOISTURE TESTS WITH COVER CROPS. 



S * 



"c3 S 



Q g 



tf»5 



May 3.02 



June 3.30 

 July 1 .56 



Aug. 

 Sept. 



1..53 

 3.38 



Oct. 1.29 



The idea that this little experiment conveyed to the fruit 

 growers was that certain crops took a large amount of moisture 

 from the soil, hence it left the soil so the apple tree could not 

 get the moisture it required. On the oat plot it will be seen that 

 during the first part of the season there was 20 per cent of moist- 

 ure. The moisture content went down rapidly until on August 4 

 there was only 9.49 per cent of moisture; just at the time when 

 the apple tree was making the greatest drain upon that soil of 

 moisture and when the greatest evaporation was going on from 

 the tree, when the tree could withstand the effects of the drought 

 less than at any other time. The soil had no moisture in it for 

 the very reason that the crop of oats which had been planted in 

 the orchard had taken the moisture up and thrown it off into the 

 air, hence causing injury. Now a clean culture plot right along 

 side of this, where the ground was kept cultivated as we know 

 we should keep our orchards cultivated in the early part of the 

 season, followed by a cover crop, had at the same date fifteen 

 per cent, a gain of five per cent. The difference between ten per 

 cent and fifteen per cent was favorable to the tree's getting the 

 moisture supply required to carry it along and to make use of 

 the plant food in the soil at that time, whereas the other condi- 

 tion did not favor growth for the simple reason that there was 

 not a sufficient amount of moisture there for that purpose. This 

 work was followed up on clover plots ; that is, clover which had 

 been seeded the previous year — a practice followed by a great 



